


A very danish christmas

by kafferosterier



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Inspired by Hallmark Christmas Movies, M/M, Mentions of Other Voltron Paladins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:14:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28269699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kafferosterier/pseuds/kafferosterier
Summary: If Nico had ever been one to believe in the whole shabang of christmas miracles, having his car crash down in the middle of nowhere, leaving him stranded by the side of the road, would probably have cured him of any such illusions.Luckily for him, Nico had always been a proud non-believer in all sorts of higher powers, especially Christmas.Then, Kevin came to the rescue.
Relationships: Nico Hulkenberg/Kevin Magnussen
Comments: 2
Kudos: 38





	A very danish christmas

**Author's Note:**

> I sent this prompt to my friend as a joke, and he demanded that I actually make something with it. So I guess you're all welcome.
> 
> Merry christmas you all

**22nd of December**

If Nico had ever been one to believe in the whole shabang of christmas miracles, having his car crash down in the middle of nowhere, leaving him stranded by the side of the road, would probably have cured him of any such illusions. 

Luckily for him, Nico had always been a proud non-believer in all sorts of higher powers, so at least his last minutes of life weren’t plagued by any questions of that kind. 

Having to deal with the temperature inside the car steadily dropping, and the breath inside his lungs slowly turning into ice, was bad enough already. 

If anything, Nico would perhaps have turned to God as his last resort, and the vague memory of one of the children’s psalms he had been forced to sing in his youth was tickling the inside of his mouth, when the sudden flash of headlights suddenly lit up the road. 

Nico practically fell out of his car, his body protesting all over as he forced his cold muscles into moving. Waving his arms over his head and shouting as loud as he could, he ran into the middle of the road.

A loud screech filled the air as the tires slid against the icy road, and the metres between it and Nico quickly diminished. As it came to a halt, it missed Nico’s body with only a few centimetres. 

The door to the driver’s seat slammed open, and a blond stranger jumped out. Despite the dark evening, Nico could clearly see the panic still roaming in his eyes. 

“What the fuck!” were the first words the stranger let out, “Why are you standing in the middle of the road?”

“Enjoying the scenery, what else?” Nico said with a pointed nod towards his car, that stood parked halfway into a ditch. 

Sadly, the stranger didn’t seem to take the hint, and stepped forward .

Feeling the fist’s hanging in the air, Nico quickly retracted: “Just kidding, my car has broken down. Would you mind helping me out?” 

At the end, he added a polite smile in the end, which had worked with several CEOs in the past. 

As he thirty seconds later strapped himself in in the warm car, Nico knew that his smile was killer. 

* * *

The stranger, or Kevin, as he grumpily had introduced himself in the car, didn’t own a phone, so instead he offered to give Nico a ride to the nearest town, where he could find a landline and call a mechanic. 

“Can’t I just charge my phone in your car?” Nico had asked, but only needed to see the confusion in Kevin’s eyes to understand that it was a stupid question. 

Off to the small town, then. 

At least the car was nice and warm, and the music on the radio wasn’t too terrible. 

The company was a bit stiff though, with Kevin not saying many words, and Nico saying even fewer. When the car finally came to a halt outside a several stories high inn, with marble ornaments above the door frames and around the windowsills, decorated from top to bottom with blinking christmas lights, it felt like a relief. 

“It’s my sister’s” Kevin gruffed, and Nico forcefully kept his mouth shut as to not let any acidic remarks out about his sister’s choice of christmas ornaments. 

Instead he plastered a small smile on, and didn’t let it budge, not even when the inside turned out to be even more ostentatiously decorated. Never had he ever seen so many life-sized santa dolls indoors. 

At least Kevin’s sister seemed as genuine in her customer service as she was in inventing new types of migraine, Nico noted. 

The food she served also wasn’t too shabby, he thought, as she placed two large plates of pie in front of them as they sat down to eat. 

Though, Nico reminded himself, small town people could never be trusted. They might put poison in your food in order to make you stay longer. 

“So what do you do around here?” Nico asked in an attempt to break the silence, while suspiciously eyeing the pie in front of him. To him, it smelled alright, and from the outside it looked harmless. 

But then, nobody would try poisoning another person with an ill-looking meal. 

Kevin had already dug into his pie, the meaty warm insides letting out a cloud of steam. With a satisfied smile playing on his lips, he leaned forward, inhaling the aroma. 

When he opened his eyes again, Nico was surprised to actually find some sort of warmth in the otherwise sour face. 

“I do a little bit of everything; carpentry, fishing, hunting, but most importantly” Kevin said, as he forcefully started cutting the pie into smaller pieces, making the plate grind noisily against the tabletop, “I’m the number one santa of this town.”

In probably his most impressive show of acting ever, Nico managed a simple “oh, sounds fun”, without breaking into heavy sobs over whatever bad movie his life had turned into. 

Luckily, Kevin didn’t notice the sarcasm, and instead took Nico’s words as an excuse to go over all the perks of being the village santa. 

His pitch wasn’t the most convincing, Nico concluded after about thirty seconds. Something about having to knock on people’s doors and  _ talk to children.  _ Getting your house egged on halloween sounded more fun than what Kevin did. 

Perhaps taking notice of how one-sided their conversation had become, Kevin quickly stopped his explanation of the best-job-in-the-world, and asked Nico about his career. 

Nico finally decided to try the pie as well, seeing as Kevin hadn’t fallen dead to the ground yet, and carefully stabbed his fork into the warm pie. “I work in finance.” He said, with a small sniff as the pie’s scent hit him full force. It really smelled  _ good _ . “I’m actually on my way to a conference right now.”

Kevin’s fork stopped in mid-air to his mouth, as blue eyes shot up to stare at Nico, “the  _ Sustainable Formula _ conference?” he asked. 

Nico blinked, surprised that the Number 1 Santa had heard of the, admittedly quite well-known conference. News really traveled fast nowadays. “Yes, actually.” he admitted, “how did you know?”

“You would probably read the news as well if some conference team threatened to turn your village into “sustainable cinder”” came the answer, complete with a fork swiveling in the air as Kevin gestured two air quotes. 

Nico shrugged at him, “this far, I can’t really call it a loss. The entire region will benefit at the cost of, like, five houses in total.”

He took a sip of the ginger ale that he had been served, swishing it around his mouth like he would the finest wine, only to decide that he wasn’t a fan. 

Putting the glass back down, Nico smiled up at Kevin, “after all, trees are temporary things, hard cash is forever.” 

“But in a pinch, you can’t eat a dollar.” Kevin muttered. 

After that, their dinner fell into an uncomfortable silence. 

**23rd December**

“What do you mean you can’t get it fixed?” Nico shouted into the phone, making the few other guests in the breakfast room jump. “I need to get out of town  _ today _ !”

On the other end of the line, the tinny response came that no, Nico’s car would not be fixed until at least in two days. The workers were on christmas break. 

Fucking christmas. 

“Thanks for nothing” Nico muttered before hanging up. Letting out a low groan, he slumped over the table, resting his forehead against the course wooden tabletop. 

Why couldn’t baby Jesus have been born some other day, or, perhaps not born at all? Nico wouldn’t have minded a life without that darn baby being mentioned all the time. 

“Can’t get to your evil corporate meeting in time?” Kevin’s voice suddenly sounded above him, and Nico didn’t even have to look up to know that he was smiling. 

Speaking of people Nico wouldn’t mind never having to see again, this bloke was on top of his list, that was for sure. 

“Fuck off.”

Kevin scoffed incredulously at his greeting, but didn’t leave, as Nico had hoped for. Instead he pulled out the chair opposite Nico and sat down, after first plopping his snow-covered woolen beanie on the table. 

Nico straightened up in his seat, glaring up at Kevin, “did you come here just to torment me?” he asked. 

“I actually came to tell you some good news” Kevin sniffled, before doing something weird with his face, perhaps smiling, as his sister came over with a cup of steaming coffee. 

“That you found some reindeers that will get me out of this hellhole?” Nico drily asked. 

Kevin’s brow furrowed, “no, we didn’t find any reindeers. They don’t live at these latitudes.” Ignoring the snort from Nico, he continued, “but there’s a bus that leaves for the city tomorrow afternoon, so you can get to your conference in time.”

Nico shot up from the table, his face splitting into a wide grin, “hallelujah!” he exclaimed, for perhaps the first time in his life. “This is a miracle!”

Kevin rolled his eyes, “mostly for us”, he said, before taking a sip from his coffee. 

* * *

After breakfast, Nico trailed outside after Kevin, who was going to repair some old lady’s fence. 

It was Kevin who had asked for some assistance and, seeing as he didn’t really have anything else to do, Nico had agreed to follow. Perhaps it could prove itself useful to get a look at the town before deciding on its future. 

Outside, it was freezing and a light snowfall had begun to fall. None of the inhabitants seemed to mind though, as they moved around in a small frenzy, shopping the last things for Christmas. 

Despite not having much activity on paper, the town of Haas could proudly show of a few stores and quite the busy city center. 

The longer they walked the main road, though, the more vacant houses and closed down businesses adorned the path. “ _ Rental space for lease.” “We have changed site” “Romain’s Kitchen: no longer in business.” _

Nico raised an eyebrow towards Kevin, who didn’t return it. 

They found the fence half a kilometer outside of town, or, Kevin found it. Nico would never have deemed the pile of sticks a fence, and would probably have walked past it if Kevin hadn’t stopped him. 

“Hold this”, Kevin said, and handed his toolbox over to Nico, who almost toppled over in surprise at its weight. 

Embarrassed, Nico looked away, but Kevin didn’t call him out on it. Instead he only ordered Nico to hold the box open, while he rustled around for some tools. 

As Kevin worked on the wooden structure, Nico busied himself with staring blankly at some trees. When he had glared himself satisfied with pine trees for the next five years, he switched his attention over to Kevin. 

Kevin’s backside, in particular. 

Despite everything horrible with Kevin’s sour attitude, Nico couldn’t help but admit that the man was in possession of some damn fine shoulders. Especially when he was forcefully hammering a fence back into function, and the muscles of his back made themselves obvious, despite the leather jacket covering them. 

He was halfway done with his mental undressing of Kevin, when the man in question turned around to grab another nail and met his eyes. “What are you staring at?” Kevin gruffly asked, and no snow in the world could have stopped the warm blush on Nico’s cheeks. 

“I—”, for the first time in his life, Nico found himself failed by his tongue as nothing witty came out of his mouth. Damn. He settled for a half-shrug and a neutral “nothing”, desperately hoping that Kevin wouldn’t call him out on this either. 

Kevin, of course, called him out on it. “Admiring my work or merely the view?” he asked, eyes glinting. Before Nico could protect his honour, Kevin had returned to the fence, his last, obviously suggestive, line still hanging in the air. 

Was there… was there perhaps a chance that Kevin was gay?

Nico didn’t know whether he was getting his hopes up, or if he should feel insulted by the fact that they might have something in common. 

* * *

It had already gotten dark outside when Kevin finally was done with the fence, and Nico almost thanked God as it became time to wrap things up.

As the hours had dragged on, and Nico had stood motionless next to Kevin, his body had steadily grown cold, until he no longer had any feeling in his toes nor fingers. 

Kevin seemed not to take notice of Nico’s blueing lips, perhaps due to the low vision, but as he relieved Nico from the toolbox, their fingers brushed against each other. 

Their short moment of touch felt almost like an electric spark, and Nico quickly pulled himself away, all too aware of Kevin suddenly feeling too close. Kevin, however, made a grab for Nico’s hand, enfolding his cold fingers with his warm hand.

“Are you alright?” Kevin asked, and it might just have been his accent, or the fact that the darkness hindered Nico’s brain from connecting the man to the voice, but it almost made Nico’s knees give up on him. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Nico gulped, all too much aware of Kevin’s presence next to him. “I’m just a bit cold, that’s all.”

A chuckle. “I noticed that,” Kevin said, his smile apparent despite the dark. “Here, take these.” he continued, and Nico suddenly felt a pair of mittens being thrusted into his hands. 

Sparing no time, Nico put the mittens on, almost gasping at the sensation of warmth against his ice cold fingers. Kevin had been wearing them for a while, warming them up to a perfect temperature. 

It felt a bit dumb, but wearing Kevin’s mittens, feeling the literal warmth of his hands against his own skin. As they walked back towards the town, Nico felt himself actually start to warm up to Kevin.

Kevin seemed to sense it as well, as he decided to actually open his mouth for once during the way back, and started describing the buildings and businesses as they passed by.

Apparently, growing up in the same place left you with almost a physical bond to the area, Nico figured, as every little step of the road became enriched with stories of childhood, growing up, and nostalgia. 

He himself had never had that luxury, what with always moving around from town to town and between new employments. 

In fact, the small cubicle at Nico’s office was probably the place Nico had spent most time in over the course of his life. Four small walls, none of them decorated. 

For a short moment, he felt jealousy spring up, as Kevin continued his storytelling. Jealousy because Kevin had a place to call home, a place where he always would belong. 

Then his jealousy got replaced with pity, as he realized how trapped Kevin must feel. Stuck in this place, watching it fall apart from the inside, with nowhere else to go. 

“Why do you look so down?” Kevin asked, suddenly, breaking Nico out of his thoughts. 

Nico looked up at him, only seeing Kevin as a dark blob against the even darker surroundings. “I was just thinking about how hard it must feel, to see this place slowly close down, without being able to do anything against it,” he said, the sheer honesty of his words shocking even himself. 

Beside him, Kevin stilled for a short while, before once more picking up the pace again. Nico tailed after, not daring to say anything more. He had already ruined the mood enough. 

They were only a few houses away from the inn, when Kevin suddenly grabbed Nico by the arm and dragged him down a small alley. “I want to show you something,” he only said, when Nico answered where they were going. 

After a few moments of brisk walking, they ended up on the far end of the inn’s garden, standing on top of a steep hill. 

“We used to go here as children,” Kevin explained, turned with his back toward Nico, staring out over the many darkened windows of the inn and the neighbouring buildings. “Me, my sister, and my best friend Romain.”

From his position, Nico could clearly pinpoint which room was his; third floor to the far left. The only one of the guest rooms shining with light. 

“What did you do up here?” Nico asked, throwing a small glance toward Kevin, who still stood turned away from him. 

“Back then, we used to have many more guests before, and not as many had moved away from the center, so all windows were usually lit up with christmas starts and other decorations. From here, it felt like you were looking at a city.” 

For the first time since they had reached the hill, Kevin actually turned his head to look over at Nico. In the slight gleam from the inn’s lights, his eyes seemed to shine in the darkness. “Our own  _ skyline _ , as to say”, Kevin said, ending his monologue with a bitter laugh. 

Nico moved to say something, what, he didn’t know, but Kevin beat him to it by grabbing Nico by the arm once more. 

“Another thing we used to do as kids, was this,” Kevin said, and then pulled Nico down the hill with him.

“What the—” Nico said, but by then it was already too late. 

In a flurry of loose snow and limbs, the two grown men rolled down the hill, their arms and legs tangling with each other into what felt like a tight knot of limbs. 

Nico screamed, straight out . Kevin only laughed, his warm mouth pressed closely against Nico’s ear, almost making him go deaf. 

The moment they came to a halt on the ground, Nico jumped to get up off the ground. However, seeing as Kevin was laying half on top of him, and then somehow also under him, he failed to do so. 

It was first when Kevin helped him get loose that Nico finally could get up, and begin stalking back toward the inn. 

“I’m never again going anywhere with you. Ever!” He shouted, loud enough for Kevin to hear him despite the distance. 

“Aww come on,” Kevin laughed, from right beside him. Nico jumped in surprise, not having heard him close in. “I know you found it a bit fun!”

Nico rolled his eyes, “nope, never, not funny,” he professed. 

As they continued forward over the snow covered lawn, Kevin continued to simultaneously poke fun at how scared Nico had been, and convince him that it hadn’t been  _ that bad.  _

Nico, in turn, prevailed his charade of being terribly offended; moaning about how his expensive coat had gotten all dirty, and how his shoes never would survive this day. 

In the door, Nico finally turned around. “You know,” he said, poking a finger in Kevin’s chest, “before you pushed me down a  _ fucking  _ hill, you had me almost convinced that all of you wood-dwellers were not brusque cavemen,” he raised his chin in mock-anger. “Guess I was wrong.”

Kevin . His cheeks had turned wonderfully red, most likely from the snow, though Nico almost hoped that his presence played some part in it. “I’ll prove it to you tomorrow then,” he smiled. 

“I doubt it,” Nico said, before turning on his heel and stalking his way up the stairs. Kevin stayed downstairs, his laughter ringing loudly through the hall. 

When the door to Nico’s room fell shut behind him, blocking out all noise from the hallway below, Nico suddenly found the silence eerie, in a way he usually didn’t. 

Staring out the dark window, the ceiling lamp made it impossible for him to distinguish the hill that they had stood upon, but Nico knew the general direction. 

He stared and stared out through the window, his head reliving the fleeting moments of their descent of the hill — Kevin’s warm breath against the side of his head, the taste of snow and childish wonder on his tongue. 

Despite the slightly cold guest room, Nico felt his cheeks redden. 

**24th December**

“Good morning asshole, sorry for yesterday” were the first words Kevin greeted him with the next morning, this time holding two cups of coffee, which he put down on the breakfast table. 

“Good morning to you too, and I’ll never forgive you,” Nico replied, not looking up from his phone. He made a grab for one of the cups, though, and took a sip. 

Damn, Kevin’s sister made some real good coffee. 

After finally managing to still the butterflies in his stomach during the prior evening, Nico had actually remembered to notify his boss of him not being able to make the first day of the conference. Now, he had about fourteen essay-length messages to read through, all of which reprimanded him for his carelessness. 

All of them ended with the line ‘best regards — Cyril’ but none of them really held any feeling of warmth. Nico understood the urgency — if the conference turned out in their favor, and the land area went to their firm, it would be a huge success — but at the same time, he wondered if Cyril ever had felt the joy of Christmas. 

Halfway through the seventh message, Nico gave himself a small break, and looked up from his phone. He was just in time to watch as Kevin accidentally spilled half of the contents of a sugar packet, making the small crystals fly everywhere. 

Kevin smiled up at him sheepishly, turning even redder when he noticed that Nico had seen it all. 

For the first time that morning, Nico actually felt the corners of his lips tug upward in a smile. “Klutz,” he said, before turning his phone off and putting it to the side. Pinching a small amount of sugar from the table, he smiled even broader as he threw it toward Kevin’s face. 

Watching Kevin desperately trying to wipe the sugar off of his face, accidentally rubbing it into his beard, was . Nico’s face broke into Kevin gave him a “fuck off”, but he was smiling as well. 

When it became time for Kevin to leave the inn for his gig as Santa, Nico actually felt genuine in telling Kevin to “have some fun.” 

Then he felt a bit disgusted with himself for having felt genuine warmth for someone dressed up as a santa. He made sure to break the too warm farewell with a “see you when we burn this town down next year.”

There. Better.

Though when Kevin closed the door behind him with a bit of a frown, and a grimaced “I hope the bus falls off a cliff,” it left a sour aftertaste with Nico. 

Horrible business this, feelings. 

Nico didn’t let himself grieve too long though, instead busied himself with answering all of Cyril’s messages. 

The bus left at 16.42, leaving him with several hours to prepare for the second day of the conference, going through all of his mails, and then dick around with some assignments he had promised Cyril to finish before New Years. 

Around noon, he went to the dining area and found himself some food. Most of the staff had gone home for the day, but Kevin’s sister was still at work, busying herself with decorating the room for the evening’s yearly Christmas toast. Nico spoke with her for a few minutes, but when they had mentioned the heavy snowfall outside all but four times, he decided that their topics of discussion had dried out, and he returned to the dayroom. 

Back to his work post again, he came just in time to answer Cyril’s second wave of messages, these ones ending in ‘wishing you a lovely holiday — Cyril’. Once again, the actual tone of his messages were far from filled with christmas cheer. 

Outside, the wind continued to pick up in strength, and a ghastly howl made its way down the chimney, echoing through the empty halls of the inn. 

Despite the weather, Kevin’s sister dared to go outside, after shouting something to Nico about having to buy oranges. 

The moment the door slammed shut behind her, the telephone in the reception started ringing, the shrill ringtone joining the ghastly howl of the wind in an eerie harmony. 

At first, Nico waited for Kevin’s sister to return inside, and relieve him of the phone duties, but when she didn’t come back, he grew anxious. The phone continued to ring, far longer than any sane person would wait for anyone to pick up. 

“Fuck it,” Nico muttered, and went over to the desk and plucked the phone from its stand. 

Immediately after picking up, Nico was washed over with the angry voice of a woman, who demanded for Santa to show up soon. 

Apparently, Kevin wasn’t the best at upholding his holy duties as father Christmas, Nico noted with a wry grin, picturing the pure happiness on Kevin’s face as he thought of his job for his eyes. 

“Sorry mam, perhaps he’s still eating porridge at the house before you,” he answered dutifully, disguising his chuckle as a small couch. 

Some of his satisfaction seemed to show through the landline, as another wave of nagging followed his words, but Nico hung up. 

He wasn’t some secretary, especially not Santa’s secretary. 

Once again, he returned to his work. However, not for long, as the next hour was filled with several desperate parents, all demanding for Santa to show up at their doorstep soon. 

Hanging up after the eleventh phone call, Nico realised with a shudder that he actually had started to worry. Perhaps something had happened to Kevin. 

When the phone rang once more, and Nico realised with a start that it was the same person who had called him the first time, the alarm bells started to ring in Nico’s mind. 

Kevin seemed to have gotten into trouble. 

Nico threw a glance at his phone watch; he only had twenty minutes left before the bus arrived. 

He had finished packing already before breakfast, the bags were waiting for him just inside his room. 

If he didn’t leave now 

The phone rang again, Kevin’s sister calling from the store, asking Nico if Kevin perhaps had returned to the inn. When Nico answered that no, he had yet to return, the tears in her voice had become evident. 

Nico put the phone back down with a heavy lump in his throat. 

God fucking damn it. He had to save santa. 

He had to find Kevin. 

* * *

Locating Kevin was one of the most difficult things Nico had ever done in his life, and then he had once had Lewis Hamilton as his financial client. 

In contrast to stroll through the blizzard, that nightmarish three months of his corporate life now seemed like a breeze. 

For starters, he could barely see anything through the heavy snow and quickly incoming darkness. 

Equipped with a flashlight he had found under the desk, and Kevin’s mittens, Nico was far from giving up. Running down the main strait of the town, he searched every little nook and cranny after a red suit. 

His face burned from the snow blowing into his face as he made his way out of the town, toward the fence Kevin had repaired the day before. He continued making his way through the deep forest, half bent over himself against the wind, feet desperately trying to find grip on the icy road.

It was only the slightest of light that shone through the already thick layer of snow that alerted Nico of the car. One of the taillights that had yet to be completely buried. 

The mere sight of the car almost made Nico cry, but he filed the relief away for later, for when he knew that Kevin was safe. 

It took him awhile to find out, as he first had to dig the front door free from any snow. He spent almost ten agonizing minutes on trying to shovel away as much snow as possible until he finally could rip the door open. 

The first thing that met him inside was the sight of a very peaceful Kevin, sat leaned back against the . A fine line 

For a second, Nico was completely sure that Kevin was dead, and he had already opened his mouth for a string of ‘no no’s’ and ‘dear god’s when he saw a slight puff of smoke trickle out of Kevin’s half closed mouth. 

The string of desperate cries turned into a line of ‘thank god’ and ‘holy hell I need to get him warm NOW’. 

Nico called the local grocery store, vaguely hearing the worried voice of Kevin’s sister in the background as he hurriedly, but calmly, told the olden store owner of his location, and that it would be nice if someone could pick the two of them up soon. 

Upon hearing the store owner promise him just that, Nico hung up the phone, and started trying to rub some warmth into Kevin’s arms and legs. 

He had barely started his warming-up procedure when two tired, and very blue, eyes fluttered open, and Kevin gave him a small smile. “Shouldn’t you be on a bus?” Kevin asked, voice weak. 

Nico let out a wet laugh, the tears of relief finally finding their way out of his eyes, “I had to save some reckless driver from freezing to death first,” he smiled. 

* * *

Two five-minute car drives at speeds way too high for the icy road, a few minutes in front of the fire, a warm bath, and several bowls of hot soup later, Kevin had basically returned to normal. 

Nico had not once during that time been able to stop looking at him, not yet convinced that everything was back to normal. 

Seated next to each other on the sofa in the day room, Kevin’s warm arm firmly pressed against his, it did feel quite alright though. 

As Kevin’s laugh rang through the room as he demanded to know why on earth Nico had gone looking for him instead of taking the damn bus, Nico actually felt more than alright. 

“As I said,” Nico declared, mostly to himself, “I felt a deep connection with all the children wondering why santa hadn’t shown up, I couldn’t let the town down.”

“No other reason?” Kevin asked, his eyes glinting. 

Nico did his best not to answer it, but nevertheless his lips tugged into a grin. “No other reason,” he said, as a matter of fact. 

Kevin smiled, "what a shame."  Then, he suddenly leaned forwards, towards Nico. “I guess I'll have to give you a reason,” he said, before kissing Nico on the lips. 

In his back pocket, Nico felt his phone vibrate from another incoming message from Cyril. 

Already returning the kiss, he decided to ignore his boss for the evening. 

  
  


**25th**

For the first time in what felt like months, it wasn’t Nico’s natural stress response that woke him up in the morning, but the ringing of his phone from across the room, where Nico’s pants lay abandoned on the floor.

Cursing darkly under his breath, Nico lifted the thick blanket from on top of him and stood up. Hopping from foot to foot across the ice cold floor, he quickly reached his clothes, and shuffled through his pockets to find the ringing little machine, muttering a gruff “‘elo” into the receiver. 

It was the car mechanic, telling him that they’d finally got the part they needed for the car, and that it would be done in just an hour. 

Apparently the workers had gotten tired of Christmas and had gone to work anyways, or something like that. 

Nico looked at the watch on his phone. Only seven in the morning. Just beside him, his packed suitcase stood waiting for him. Ready to go. 

If he left now, he would be in time for the last half day of the conference. 

From the bed, there came some rustling as Kevin moved around, his arm sprawling over the half of the bed that Nico had claimed for the night. 

Upon coming up empty handed, Kevin’s face lifted from the pillow, and two half-closed eyes blared towards where Nico was squatting on the ground. 

“Leaving already?” Kevin asked, voice still rough with sleep. 

Nico stepped over back to the bed, and climbed back into the warm cocoon of blankets and danish limbs. 

Immediately, Kevin’s arms found their way around him, warming his cold body up again. 

“It was just someone that wanted to sell me a vacuum,” Nico muttered, before tangling his ice blocks of feet with Kevin’s legs. He was met with a light shove and a mumbled “fuck off”, before being hugged closer once again.

“Who even works on christmas day?” Kevin muttered to no one in particular, closing his eyes again without waiting for Nico answer. 

In turn, Nico only responded by moving closer to Kevin, letting his eyes fall shut as well. As the world closed in on the two of them, the soft breaths of the man beside him the only tangible sensation to his ears, Nico felt himself drift back to sleep. 

**Author's Note:**

> It suddenly hit me while writing; for all you people that celebrate christmas on the 25th, do santa come around the houses? In sweden, santa comes around the house and personally delivers a sack of presents (if you are looking for a quick buck around christmas town, it does make for a wonderful extra gig)
> 
> If you like this, feel free to share a comment (as a christmas gift ;-) )


End file.
